I get no pleasure from having to report it, but report it I do - we had to endure some rain in the evening yesterday, down at base anyway.

Booooo!

Conditions remain relatively mild this morning but happily I can report 3cm of snow. It's very much on the wet side, but we'll take it!

And not to fear, as the forecast is looking rather promising for the coming few days. Fingers crossed for lots of snow coming in.

Here is a question often asked:

Why, when pretty much all the other areas are open, are the top lifts not moving yet?

Well, the official answer seems to be that there's not enough snow yet. That might seem understandably odd considering that more snow usually falls higher up on the mountain than base, and those base areas are already open. You'll notice the Avalanche Report below is also saying that there isn't enough snow yet to safely ride out of bounds. You need more snow to safely do that than on the groomed prepared courses. Once the good folk making those decisions decided that there is enough snow to safely get it all going, it most certainly will do and the gate system will kick into action.

Hopefully that day will be quite soon. Perhaps after this storm that's due over the next few days.

Wet snow has fallen with the passing of a low pressure system. The east side (Hirafu) has received more snow. Wet snow has started to cover the bamboo in forested areas. Surface avalanches can occur easily on 40 deg slopes when this type of low pressure snowfall reaches 30cm depth. Although the speed of these avalanches is slow, they carry significant destructive force. Expect 15-16 Dec layer in snowpack.

Snow is good however visibility is poor. Take care riding. The snow blanketing the mountain is beautiful today.

There still isn't enough snow to safely ride out of bounds. Accidents can easily happen in bad weather. Make cautious decisions.

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Ski resort operation information: Sunday 16th December 2018The below information is manually checked each morning and believed to be correct at time of report